We talk about a lot of things in Baptist life. God, Jesus, Holy Spirit, SS class, the national convention, giving; we evaluate today’s preaching, temperature of the auditorium, usefulness of committees, the pastor’s family, youth trips, deacons, budgets, and even the local football game last Friday evening. Etc…..
I have observed that few churches talk about the most important, the most critical aspect of church health and church life. The most important conversation (and I should say on-going conversation) that a church can have is this: Discuss the answer to this question: “Where is God working?” That question alone IS the most significant piece of information your church can possess.
Consider John 5:19. “Jesus therefore answered and was saying to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner.’” NAS
If Jesus looked to the Father to see what was important and going on, why shouldn’t we do the same? Jesus has set the example. We ought to be obedient to follow. The issue is clear. Whatever the Father does is the most important thing the church can understand. That activity gives huge clues to what God’s vision is for the church. It gives direction for every organization in the church to engage in the same activity that God is doing. If we miss that activity, we are operating out of our own agenda and our own power. If we are obedient to join God in what He is doing, we can expect, through our faith, that He will provide abundantly to get the job done. We don’t even have to pray to ask Him to bless the activity! His involvement automatically will bless the activity and prove to be fruitful for the building of the Kingdom.
What is God doing in your church? Can others see the same activity?
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Do You Believe?
In Old Testament times, “to believe” meant “to do”. If you believed you should take care of orphans, then in your life activities, you took care of orphans. Today, “to believe” means “to understand”. We have intellectualized the word “believe” and have removed a necessary element of behavior that I believe the Lord expects. For example, we say we believe the Bible. The Bible teaches tithing. So, if we don’t tithe, do we really believe?
If we ask someone today if they believe in Jesus and they say “yes”, what do they really mean? Do they mean that they understand that Jesus is God’s Son and understand the role He played in salvation? Is that the extent of their belief, or, have they demonstrated their belief by action? If we say we believe in Jesus and want to “follow Him”, according to the Scriptures, we are immediately faced with decisions to change our behavior to live like Him and carry out the work He saved us to do. If we fail to make changes in our lives, do we really believe? I sometimes think that we have encouraged a cheap grace with little expectation of people to live differently.
If you read the gospel of John and study the verb “to believe” I think you will come to the understanding that there are several levels of believing. For example, the scripture says that the demons believed in Jesus, but obviously they didn’t follow Him. Read John 2: 23-25. Isn’t it interesting that Jesus said that He would not entrust Himself to those who just “believed”, because He knew what was in their hearts? Could it be that these “believers” had an intellectual belief that did not result in salvation, as with the demons?
Consider the two churches in the other article in this issue. Could it be that the Hispanic people believed in Jesus to the extent that their lives gave proof of their devotion to Him? Could it be that some in the sponsoring church might have just believed intellectually, but did not really have a salvation experience?
It is commonly known from research that 20% of church members give 80% of the church income and the other 80 % of members give the remaining 20% of income. I wonder if the 20% that give the most give out of a personal relationship with Jesus and the other 80% give out of an intellectual understanding of Him?
Recent statistics indicate that only 1% of churches in the USA are growing by conversion growth (people really being saved). Only 4% of Baptist churches support church planting. Surely not, but could it be that many of us have only an intellectual belief in Jesus and have not really had a true conversion experience as evidenced by the action of our lives?
What about you? What about your church? Could it be…….?
I suggest we all get down on our knees and ask some tough questions: Why are our churches not growing? Why are churches having financial problems? Why are we unwilling to reach out to lost people who need Jesus? Why are we unwilling to change things to reach more people? Why aren’t more churches supporting church planting? Why? Are we the problem, because of our insufficient understanding of what it really means to believe?
If we are unable to deal with issues from a spiritual perspective because of our insufficient level of belief, then we are automatically dealing with issues from a fleshly (and self-centered) perspective. No wonder our churches aren’t growing.
I am praying for an outpouring of God’s Spirit on our churches that would shake us to the core and cause us to look at ourselves and see the sin and unbelief that is abundant among us.
What do you really believe? Does your life confirm that belief?
If we ask someone today if they believe in Jesus and they say “yes”, what do they really mean? Do they mean that they understand that Jesus is God’s Son and understand the role He played in salvation? Is that the extent of their belief, or, have they demonstrated their belief by action? If we say we believe in Jesus and want to “follow Him”, according to the Scriptures, we are immediately faced with decisions to change our behavior to live like Him and carry out the work He saved us to do. If we fail to make changes in our lives, do we really believe? I sometimes think that we have encouraged a cheap grace with little expectation of people to live differently.
If you read the gospel of John and study the verb “to believe” I think you will come to the understanding that there are several levels of believing. For example, the scripture says that the demons believed in Jesus, but obviously they didn’t follow Him. Read John 2: 23-25. Isn’t it interesting that Jesus said that He would not entrust Himself to those who just “believed”, because He knew what was in their hearts? Could it be that these “believers” had an intellectual belief that did not result in salvation, as with the demons?
Consider the two churches in the other article in this issue. Could it be that the Hispanic people believed in Jesus to the extent that their lives gave proof of their devotion to Him? Could it be that some in the sponsoring church might have just believed intellectually, but did not really have a salvation experience?
It is commonly known from research that 20% of church members give 80% of the church income and the other 80 % of members give the remaining 20% of income. I wonder if the 20% that give the most give out of a personal relationship with Jesus and the other 80% give out of an intellectual understanding of Him?
Recent statistics indicate that only 1% of churches in the USA are growing by conversion growth (people really being saved). Only 4% of Baptist churches support church planting. Surely not, but could it be that many of us have only an intellectual belief in Jesus and have not really had a true conversion experience as evidenced by the action of our lives?
What about you? What about your church? Could it be…….?
I suggest we all get down on our knees and ask some tough questions: Why are our churches not growing? Why are churches having financial problems? Why are we unwilling to reach out to lost people who need Jesus? Why are we unwilling to change things to reach more people? Why aren’t more churches supporting church planting? Why? Are we the problem, because of our insufficient understanding of what it really means to believe?
If we are unable to deal with issues from a spiritual perspective because of our insufficient level of belief, then we are automatically dealing with issues from a fleshly (and self-centered) perspective. No wonder our churches aren’t growing.
I am praying for an outpouring of God’s Spirit on our churches that would shake us to the core and cause us to look at ourselves and see the sin and unbelief that is abundant among us.
What do you really believe? Does your life confirm that belief?
Churches in Discipleship Crisis
OK. You think I am out of touch with that title for the article? Well, stop and think with me for a moment. I scratch my head daily and wonder, “How in the world can I be a catalyst for growth/change in our churches?” More than 80% of our SBC churches are on plateau or are declining. We are in big trouble. So I ask, “What is the cause?” “How did we get here?” And the more sobering question, “What did I do to help us get here?”
The local church is a huge system with all of its variables interrelated. Doing one thing to the system can have an impact on other parts of the system. And, it is often hard to anticipate the impact that changing one variable has on all other variables in the church. But system analysis (a good thing) helps us to evaluate what we are doing. If the offerings are down, there is a reason. It may be the economy is bad, but more likely, something has happened in the church to cause offerings to be down. The cause could be anything: the church spent some money foolishly (in the eyes of some members). The pastor started investing church money in the commodity market!! Spending is out of control. Attendance is down….. But, something is the cause of the decline in giving.
So, back to the issue: 80% of our churches are on plateau or are declining. What is the cause? I don’t think it is something that we did, I think it is something that we haven’t done well. Discipleship. Now, please understand, I am not talking about needing another “book study”. I am talking about training people how to live like Jesus, or if you prefer, I am talking about living like a missionary. I don’t know about churches in your association, but, I don’t have many churches that have a strong program that teaches believers what God expects of us as followers of Christ.
My wife, Sandra, and I were talking about this the other night and she made the observation that when she was growing up in church, all those who professed Christ as Savior were considered disciples. We concluded that thought to be far from the truth. New professing believers are not disciples, at least not yet. But our lack of training in the Christian lifestyle makes me wonder if churches still equate a salvation experience with being a (mature) disciple.
I had another thought. Many of our churches are into practicing religion but not into practicing much Christianity. You can in fact go through the motions and not really follow Jesus. I think it might even be relatively easy for churches to get in that predicament. It makes me wonder how obedient we really are. There are legions who think that being a Christian means you go to church on Sunday morning and who think that being a disciple is the same as being a convert. I don’t think so.
I know that we are really comfortable in our inward church culture. But, what would Jesus say to us if He showed up in church this coming Sunday? I don’t think He would cheer on our committee work, nor our pot-lucks, nor business meeting agendas, etc., all focused on keeping the goldfish happy that are swimming in our tank.
He said He came to seek and to save those who were lost. He told us to go (that is the operative word) and be his ambassadors of reconciliation to a lost world. He told us to make disciples. But here is the problem: those in our churches who are true believers (?) might be so spiritually malnourished that we don’t understand what He told us to do. I guess that gets to the core of the matter: it is spiritual, and I think brought on by a great lack of building up believers into spiritual maturity.
What can we do as Directors of Missions? At least, we need to be raising the issue with our plateaued or declining churches. I just started a process with one of our churches to teach, through the Sunday School, what a Christian is really to be about. The first Sunday, the church had a 27% increase in Sunday School attendance—and it was Labor Day weekend. I think at least the new believers are hungry. Is it possible that we have lost the understanding of what it means to be a disciple, a follower of Jesus? What do you think?
The local church is a huge system with all of its variables interrelated. Doing one thing to the system can have an impact on other parts of the system. And, it is often hard to anticipate the impact that changing one variable has on all other variables in the church. But system analysis (a good thing) helps us to evaluate what we are doing. If the offerings are down, there is a reason. It may be the economy is bad, but more likely, something has happened in the church to cause offerings to be down. The cause could be anything: the church spent some money foolishly (in the eyes of some members). The pastor started investing church money in the commodity market!! Spending is out of control. Attendance is down….. But, something is the cause of the decline in giving.
So, back to the issue: 80% of our churches are on plateau or are declining. What is the cause? I don’t think it is something that we did, I think it is something that we haven’t done well. Discipleship. Now, please understand, I am not talking about needing another “book study”. I am talking about training people how to live like Jesus, or if you prefer, I am talking about living like a missionary. I don’t know about churches in your association, but, I don’t have many churches that have a strong program that teaches believers what God expects of us as followers of Christ.
My wife, Sandra, and I were talking about this the other night and she made the observation that when she was growing up in church, all those who professed Christ as Savior were considered disciples. We concluded that thought to be far from the truth. New professing believers are not disciples, at least not yet. But our lack of training in the Christian lifestyle makes me wonder if churches still equate a salvation experience with being a (mature) disciple.
I had another thought. Many of our churches are into practicing religion but not into practicing much Christianity. You can in fact go through the motions and not really follow Jesus. I think it might even be relatively easy for churches to get in that predicament. It makes me wonder how obedient we really are. There are legions who think that being a Christian means you go to church on Sunday morning and who think that being a disciple is the same as being a convert. I don’t think so.
I know that we are really comfortable in our inward church culture. But, what would Jesus say to us if He showed up in church this coming Sunday? I don’t think He would cheer on our committee work, nor our pot-lucks, nor business meeting agendas, etc., all focused on keeping the goldfish happy that are swimming in our tank.
He said He came to seek and to save those who were lost. He told us to go (that is the operative word) and be his ambassadors of reconciliation to a lost world. He told us to make disciples. But here is the problem: those in our churches who are true believers (?) might be so spiritually malnourished that we don’t understand what He told us to do. I guess that gets to the core of the matter: it is spiritual, and I think brought on by a great lack of building up believers into spiritual maturity.
What can we do as Directors of Missions? At least, we need to be raising the issue with our plateaued or declining churches. I just started a process with one of our churches to teach, through the Sunday School, what a Christian is really to be about. The first Sunday, the church had a 27% increase in Sunday School attendance—and it was Labor Day weekend. I think at least the new believers are hungry. Is it possible that we have lost the understanding of what it means to be a disciple, a follower of Jesus? What do you think?
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Our Wicked Ways
Turning from our “wicked ways” sounds like something that is meant for pagans in the Old Testament. Maybe even those non-believers at the time of Jesus. And certainly it refers to most in our permissive society today who totally disregard Jesus and do their own thing. However, I believe it applies to us, followers of Christ.
Obviously, the operative scripture is 2 Chronicles 7:14. Our “wicked ways” do not have to be murder, rape, sodomy, etc. to be included here. For those who call themselves “followers of Jesus”, the term “wicked ways”, I believe, includes anything that ignores Jesus, and, we have a multitude of opportunities there. I have consulted in dozens of churches over the years. If there is one thing that is common to many churches, it is this: churches, like individuals in our society, are attempting to live out their own agenda without regard to Jesus. I believe they are living out their “wicked ways”. How many people or churches do you know that really live out Luke 9:23?? Probably not many.
Certainly, churches pay little regard to the Lord because members of the church pay little attention to Jesus in their daily lives. As we individually ignore Jesus, the tendency is embraced by the corporate church. Since individuals fail to consult Jesus in the circumstances of their daily lives, so the church does likewise. Failure to consult Jesus is a result of our spiritual drifting over the past 100-200 years.
It seems to me that the most important on-going discussion in the life of a church is to answer this question: Where do we see Jesus working around us? The importance of that question surfaces in the amazing scripture of John 5:19. If Jesus can’t figure out what to do, who are we to make those decisions in our personal lives as well as in the activities of the church? Jesus said that He can do nothing of Himself, but instead, looks to see what the Father is doing, and He does likewise. So, to understand what God is doing around us is extremely important.
One of the principles that Blackaby interpolates from scripture is very appropriate here: When God shows you where He is working, that is an invitation for you to join Him in that work. So, the key to being obedient to the Lord is to constantly assess the activity you see around you and determine if God is up to something. I think that God intended for us to do that in our personal lives as well as in the life of our church.
The key to obedience, to my way of understanding, includes two things. First, we must be guided by the Bible. It tells us a lot, more than most of us can understand. In addition to what we find in the Bible, we must observe what God is doing around us. When we put those two things together, making sure one does not contradict the other, we can have a fairly clear picture of what God wants us to do. If we fail to follow the Lord as Jesus followed the leading of the Father, I believe we can slip into activity that can be described as some of our “wicked ways”, because it does not include the activity of God.
Here is the basic problem that we all must face: It is my understanding that if we don't follow Jesus and we decided to keep on with our "wicked ways" (which excludes Him), we are deceiving ourselves if we call ourselves "Christians". If our intent is to make it to heaven, we are in a very spiritually precarious position. If we want to remedy the situation, it must start with repentance.
Obviously, the operative scripture is 2 Chronicles 7:14. Our “wicked ways” do not have to be murder, rape, sodomy, etc. to be included here. For those who call themselves “followers of Jesus”, the term “wicked ways”, I believe, includes anything that ignores Jesus, and, we have a multitude of opportunities there. I have consulted in dozens of churches over the years. If there is one thing that is common to many churches, it is this: churches, like individuals in our society, are attempting to live out their own agenda without regard to Jesus. I believe they are living out their “wicked ways”. How many people or churches do you know that really live out Luke 9:23?? Probably not many.
Certainly, churches pay little regard to the Lord because members of the church pay little attention to Jesus in their daily lives. As we individually ignore Jesus, the tendency is embraced by the corporate church. Since individuals fail to consult Jesus in the circumstances of their daily lives, so the church does likewise. Failure to consult Jesus is a result of our spiritual drifting over the past 100-200 years.
It seems to me that the most important on-going discussion in the life of a church is to answer this question: Where do we see Jesus working around us? The importance of that question surfaces in the amazing scripture of John 5:19. If Jesus can’t figure out what to do, who are we to make those decisions in our personal lives as well as in the activities of the church? Jesus said that He can do nothing of Himself, but instead, looks to see what the Father is doing, and He does likewise. So, to understand what God is doing around us is extremely important.
One of the principles that Blackaby interpolates from scripture is very appropriate here: When God shows you where He is working, that is an invitation for you to join Him in that work. So, the key to being obedient to the Lord is to constantly assess the activity you see around you and determine if God is up to something. I think that God intended for us to do that in our personal lives as well as in the life of our church.
The key to obedience, to my way of understanding, includes two things. First, we must be guided by the Bible. It tells us a lot, more than most of us can understand. In addition to what we find in the Bible, we must observe what God is doing around us. When we put those two things together, making sure one does not contradict the other, we can have a fairly clear picture of what God wants us to do. If we fail to follow the Lord as Jesus followed the leading of the Father, I believe we can slip into activity that can be described as some of our “wicked ways”, because it does not include the activity of God.
Here is the basic problem that we all must face: It is my understanding that if we don't follow Jesus and we decided to keep on with our "wicked ways" (which excludes Him), we are deceiving ourselves if we call ourselves "Christians". If our intent is to make it to heaven, we are in a very spiritually precarious position. If we want to remedy the situation, it must start with repentance.
Spiritual Drift
Do people drift in their relationship with the Lord? Absolutely! The Old Testament is filled with the occurrences of the Israelites in a “sin cycle” involving fellowship with God, drifting from God, disobedience through sin, repentance, and returning to fellowship with God. Drifting is not confined to the Old Testament. I believe it has happened in America over the past 100-200 years. As best as I can determine, we are in the “negative” part of the sin cycle in America.
We see indirect evidence of this everywhere. Baptisms are of down significantly from 20 years ago. Many churches are inward focused. Only 1% of our churches are growing because of conversion growth. Serious corporate and individual prayer is low. Cooperative program gifts, when you consider economic inflation, have been decreasing over the past 20 years. There is little evidence in our churches where activity is attributed to the sovereign supernatural intervention of God. Many church leaders have lost God’s vision and their passion for God’s work. There is significant conflict and/or ineffectiveness at many levels of SBC life. The list goes on.
How did we get where we are? Spiritual drift. Consider this. Just suppose when you were saved you joined a church that was 50% dysfunctional. The church did some things right and some things that God did not like, but, you had no church background, so, what you observed in church was considered “normal” activity. Twenty years later, the church is about 60% dysfunctional. You have seen some changes, but not enough to get too concerned about. Now at 60% level of church dysfunction, someone else is saved and to that person everything is “normal” because he has no previous experience in church life. Now, extend that kind of spiritual drift from 20 to 100 or 200 years. Might we have drifted so slowly away from God that our drifting away from God has been undetectable to us? Might we have drifted so far that we are out of fellowship with God and don’t know it? I think that is a distinct possibility.
What is the solution? In a word, REPENTANCE. Are there any scriptures we specifically need to follow in this situation? There are several, but two come to mind: Luke 9:23 (get off of our own agenda and get onto God’s agenda) and 2 Chronicles 7:14 (get humble, pray, turn from our wicked ways). You say we aren’t involved in wicked ways? Well I think we are, and this will be the topic of my next article.
We see indirect evidence of this everywhere. Baptisms are of down significantly from 20 years ago. Many churches are inward focused. Only 1% of our churches are growing because of conversion growth. Serious corporate and individual prayer is low. Cooperative program gifts, when you consider economic inflation, have been decreasing over the past 20 years. There is little evidence in our churches where activity is attributed to the sovereign supernatural intervention of God. Many church leaders have lost God’s vision and their passion for God’s work. There is significant conflict and/or ineffectiveness at many levels of SBC life. The list goes on.
How did we get where we are? Spiritual drift. Consider this. Just suppose when you were saved you joined a church that was 50% dysfunctional. The church did some things right and some things that God did not like, but, you had no church background, so, what you observed in church was considered “normal” activity. Twenty years later, the church is about 60% dysfunctional. You have seen some changes, but not enough to get too concerned about. Now at 60% level of church dysfunction, someone else is saved and to that person everything is “normal” because he has no previous experience in church life. Now, extend that kind of spiritual drift from 20 to 100 or 200 years. Might we have drifted so slowly away from God that our drifting away from God has been undetectable to us? Might we have drifted so far that we are out of fellowship with God and don’t know it? I think that is a distinct possibility.
What is the solution? In a word, REPENTANCE. Are there any scriptures we specifically need to follow in this situation? There are several, but two come to mind: Luke 9:23 (get off of our own agenda and get onto God’s agenda) and 2 Chronicles 7:14 (get humble, pray, turn from our wicked ways). You say we aren’t involved in wicked ways? Well I think we are, and this will be the topic of my next article.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Starting Churches
Starting churches is like pushing a chain. It is not the easiest thing in the world to do.
Starting churches, however, is greatly needed.
Starting churches, however, is greatly needed.
Freedom and Obedience
When a person connects with God and develops a love relationship with Him by accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior, the person experiences a new freedom in his or her life--freedom from guilt, freedom from condemnation of sin, freedom from human expectations, etc. But surprisingly, when the believer understands all that Jesus has done for him in bringing him to the new freedom, immediately he desires to be obedient to the Lord in everything. The person understands that he has the freedom to be obedient to the Lord.
As time goes on, many interpret the new freedom to do anything they want. Many move to their own agenda rather than stay connected with God’s agenda for their lives. Some call this spiritual drift. In that condition, we slowly move away from God and settle on doing our own thing. (We adopt a new definition of freedom). God never intended that to happen. The nation of Israel in the Old Testament experienced that over and over again in their “sin cycle”. Believers start confusing the issues of freedom and obedience.
True spiritual freedom is the freedom to submit to God and not be controlled by sin. True freedom allows one to be separated from sin and be obedient to God. It is a freedom that allows anyone to make whatever adjustments are needed to be obedient to God.
Our freedom in Christ is not a license to do your own thing. It is a permission to be obedient. Please be careful to understand this distinction, otherwise your self-centered idea of freedom will take control and even though you do not realize it, you are in a place of disobedience to God. Independence is celebrated yearly in America, but, we must never allow our personal freedom to be interpreted as independence from God. Quite the opposite. Our freedom should lead to dependence and obedience.
As time goes on, many interpret the new freedom to do anything they want. Many move to their own agenda rather than stay connected with God’s agenda for their lives. Some call this spiritual drift. In that condition, we slowly move away from God and settle on doing our own thing. (We adopt a new definition of freedom). God never intended that to happen. The nation of Israel in the Old Testament experienced that over and over again in their “sin cycle”. Believers start confusing the issues of freedom and obedience.
True spiritual freedom is the freedom to submit to God and not be controlled by sin. True freedom allows one to be separated from sin and be obedient to God. It is a freedom that allows anyone to make whatever adjustments are needed to be obedient to God.
Our freedom in Christ is not a license to do your own thing. It is a permission to be obedient. Please be careful to understand this distinction, otherwise your self-centered idea of freedom will take control and even though you do not realize it, you are in a place of disobedience to God. Independence is celebrated yearly in America, but, we must never allow our personal freedom to be interpreted as independence from God. Quite the opposite. Our freedom should lead to dependence and obedience.
Monday, July 21, 2008
Following Jesus
I have been trying to quantify what it really means to follow Jesus. I am trying to keep it simple, because Christianity ought to be simply understood for the masses. It seems we have all tried to make it as complicated as possible.
My reduction of the spiritual truth that is between my ears has come to this: Luke 9:23 "And He was saying to them all, 'If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me'". Here is my verson of the verse: If anyone chooses to follow Jesus as Lord and Savior, let him once and for all deny himself by putting aside his own agenda for life, and once and for all pick up and live by God's agenda in all that you do.
It appears to me that we are deceiving ourselves if we call ourselves Christians and fail to deny self and take up our cross and follow Jesus. The problem is, I don't see many people living what this verse seems to indicate. Most Christians I know are really sold on exercising their own agenda for life, and they try to work God in somewhere in order to be respectable. I really think that is a spiritually dangerous situation to be in.
My reduction of the spiritual truth that is between my ears has come to this: Luke 9:23 "And He was saying to them all, 'If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me'". Here is my verson of the verse: If anyone chooses to follow Jesus as Lord and Savior, let him once and for all deny himself by putting aside his own agenda for life, and once and for all pick up and live by God's agenda in all that you do.
It appears to me that we are deceiving ourselves if we call ourselves Christians and fail to deny self and take up our cross and follow Jesus. The problem is, I don't see many people living what this verse seems to indicate. Most Christians I know are really sold on exercising their own agenda for life, and they try to work God in somewhere in order to be respectable. I really think that is a spiritually dangerous situation to be in.
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